Happy Early Birthday to Me

Well, I was bad this weekend. Mind you, I did manage to make my way into & out of Neiman's on Saturday without dropping a single dime, and I think I deserve a pat on the head for that because they were in pre-sale for their Last Call markdown and there was aaaaaaaall kinds of fashiony goodness out for the noshing. And then I spent an hour lurking around the Shu Uemura counter while Cici and Carla worked their magic on my friend Miss A in a preliminary scout for potential makup looks for her upcoming wedding in October, and I bought not so much as a lip gloss. (Although I tried on plenty of 'em. 'Cause what else are you going to do while you're standing at the Shu Uemura counter, sing show tunes?) Not only did I not spend any money at Neiman's, I actually returned an unworn dress and managed to, without pain, bring the balance on my NM charge down a considerable amount. Yay for me.

But then Sunday rolled around. And on Sunday I was in the closet facing the fact that it's so hot here in Austin that we're all turning into human tinder and for some unknowable reason I've wound up with a closet full of tops that are mostly long-sleeved. This is ridiculous. I need short-sleeved and sleeveless things that are not t-shirts or tank tops, because I am a grown-up and do occasionally have to leave my home.

So on Sunday I made a deal with myself that I would dash through the Neiman Marcus outlet looking for great buys on a couple of tops, and if I found things that were killer bargains I'd dip into my Luxury Tithe.


So here are my new tops:

Um, yeah... I know.

These are Fendi. And I have beyondloved them for a very long time. I tried them on a couple of times when they were in the store, but I always left them there because even when they were on sale, they were too much. Let's face it, these are not shoes I'm going to get tons of wear out of -- they don't exactly go with everything. A basic black pump they are not. (Although, come to think of it, I cannot remember the last time I wore my basic black pumps. Truth is, I'm just not a basic black pump kind of gal. But you may have deduced this about me already.)

Why I even allow myself to go into the shoe department is a problem for me & a shrink at some time in the future ( and by "the future" I mean, "when I stop spending so much money on fashion & save up enough for therapy"), but go I did and when I saw them there my heart gave a little sigh. There have been a few pairs at the outlet for a few weeks now, but they still weren't marked down enough to consider them. Out of habit I picked them up and turned them over to look at the price tag and --

Hey, hang on a minute!

They were down to about half the price they'd been last time I'd seen them. Which amounted to something like 80% off. So I found another pair and picked them up to compare. Illegible price tag. Hmmmm. I flagged down an SA and she gave me the low-down: the shoes had been returned because they were damaged. There is a little nick in them on the platform. If you look closely at the photo you can see it, just in front of the highlight on the platform of the left foot. But it is a very small nick. It is certainly not so large that it stops me from buying these shoes at this price. 'Cause that would be crazy.

And best of all, the very sweet SA (whose name I've forgotten, shame on me) went and scrounged around in the back to find me not one but two Fendi dustbags for them. (At the outlet, the shoes are not usually in their original boxes -- although these were, for some reason -- and don't usually have their dustbags with them.)

So here's me working my new Fendis:

new favorite outfit

These little cropped chinos are another thing I got this weekend that was not a top. (I actually scored three pairs of pants for under 100 bucks, and I'm not apologizing for that, because due to the weight loss I had exactly one pair of pants that fit me that were not jeans. One. A gal can't live in jeans, especially when it's so hot even the crickets are bitching and the squirrels are knocking at the door asking if they can come in & hang out in the a/c, just for a little while.) This is my very first pair of cropped pants. I've never been a fan of the cropped pant, because too often it winds up looking like this:

If I go to Hell, it's this and Crocs for eternity.

However, lately I've discovered the skinny, ankle-length jean and am really loving it with a big chunky shoe and I thought I could get the same vibe with these. These pants are by Vince, and are a great soft cotton chino that I couldn't resist; and I think I'm tall enough (especially in these shoes, which make me a cool 6 feet) not to look dumpy in them. Besides, no one could wear these shoes and look dumpy. Queen Elizabeth, if she put on these bad boys, would look chic & willowy. They're those kind of shoes.

Yeah. Sometimes it's good to be bad.



Photos: Style Spy, dillards.com